Passtimes of Earthlings
by RHCP Addict
Summary: A new recruit to the USS Enterprise can never seem to hold her tongue, but despite the odds manages to befriend a certain Mr. Spock. What does the crew think of this friendship? Could this girl be vital to rebuilding Vulcan? OC/Spock-Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

"Hello everyone, I am Captain Kirk. I trust you are comfortable so far with the amenities of the Starship Enterprise. It is my understanding that you have spent the past week shadowing your mentors at your prospective stations. Today I will choose which of you will be able to continue on here as full members of the crew. I apologize for not having been able to visit you all before now, but I trust my crew has given me an accurate report on your talents."

The Captain shifted around in his chair, and for the first time I could see his appearance without having to strain around the man standing in front of me. Kirk was a rugged looking, and undeniably handsome, blonde, twenty something male. Despite his youth, he looked quite confidant and at home in his Captain's chair.

The man who was in front of me scooted a bit to the left, and I lost sight of the Captain again. Though the small crowd I was standing in would soon form a line so that he could size us all up properly, I silently cursed my short stature, and the momentarily cramped bridge which made it necessary for all of us rookies to stand so close together and render me blind to everything but the shoulder blades of some random guy.

After the Captain explained why he had called us all to the bridge, and lined us up, with me on the end, he began speaking to each of us about our jobs here. He would ask what we thought about the job and, other crew members, if we thought we were right for the positions. Then he would consult the Commander on what our mentors had said about us. That was when I first took notice of Mr. Spock. I had heard he was a Vulcan, and he looked very much a Vulcan, with his severe haircut, strong build, slanted eyebrows, and pointed ears, but something was off about it.

By the time the Captain had reached me I realized what it was. Mr. Spock's eyes looked nothing like the eyes of a Vulcan. It was a subtle difference, but certainly caused him to appear more human to someone familiar with the Vulcan race. Before the Captain began to ask me questions, I turned my head slightly towards the Commander.

"Excuse me sir, I don't mean to sound impertinent, but I would like to know if you have any human heritage in your bloodline."

The captain looked surprised and slightly insulted, that I had not addressed him first, and that I had asked so seemingly random a question as that, but the Commander merely stared blankly at me for a few moments with an eyebrow raised in a "what are you getting at exactly?" sort of expression.

"Yes, in fact, my mother was human." He answered eventually.

"How did you guess that?" asked the Captain, causing me to face forward and look at him again.

"His eyes aren't Vulcan, sir." I replied simply, trying not to say anything that may insult the Commander further. "I apologize for speaking out of turn, but I thought it might be my only chance to ask, in case I am not chosen for the position. My name is Rose Monett, and I am one of the people who applied to be an assistant engineer to Mr. Scott."

"Well, Rose, I'd prefer you to not speak out of turn, though I admit I'm often guilty of that myself." The Captain reprimanded with a playful glint in his eye.

"Why do you want to be a member of the Starship Enterprise?"

"I liked the idea of recruiting planets to the Federation. I think it's a noble cause to unite the universe."

"Fair enough. What makes you think you'd be good for the job?"

"Besides my extensive training at Starfleet Academy, my father was an engineer on the USS Republic. He taught me everything he knew. I want to work in engineering so I can live a life surrounded by something he helped me to accomplish."

"And are you certain you can respect the orders of your superiors, primarily Scotty, Mr. Spock, and Myself?"

"Yes sir. You all seem quite agreeable. Mr. Scott especially, since I know him the best."

"Good, because Spock and I have reviewed your resume, and Scotty's notes. You were accepted for the job."

"Thank you, Captain." I said joyfully. I bobbed my head respectfully at both the Captain and the Commander. The Captain then turned and retraced his steps back to the beginning of the line, choosing the other applicants who were accepted along the way.

"You are all dismissed. New recruits are to return to their mentors, applicants who were denied will return to their quarters and pack. We will soon arrive at a federation post where you can all catch a ride back to where you came."

Before leaving the bridge, I stopped to talk to the Commander.

"I apologize again for asking you something personal in front of all the others. Perhaps I could make it up to you?"

"You are forgiven, Ensign. What is it you had in mind?"

"Well, I had always wanted to learn chess. If there's a board on ship, we could spar a bit. I know there's no better teacher in a logic game then a Vulcan." I very much wanted to keep off the bad side of the Commander, so I made sure to keep my face as friendly looking as I could without being disrespectful.

"Very well, Ensign. I will teach you if that is what you wish. It has been a long time since I last had a chess opponent, but I was once quite proficient." He turned to leave, and for the most fleeting of seconds I could have sworn I saw him smile. What I hadn't seen, however, was the steady gaze of James Tiberius Kirk, quietly absorbing all that had been said between us.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been three days since I was chosen to continue with the Enterprise. The first day I was relocated to share a room with some of the other female Ensigns. Somehow I managed to accidentally insult all of them before I had even finished unpacking. That isn't an unusual occurrence for me, though it might have been a record in the speed it happened. Luckily, this time, I seemed to make friends in the other places I frequented.

The first two days, when the Commander had found time to play chess with me, he had personally come down to where I worked and walked me to his quarters. That way, during the walk, he had time to instruct me on the basic rules of the game before our practice. Today, however, he merely buzzed me up, claiming he had a previous engagement to attend to before our lesson.

When I reached his door I found Lieutenant Uhura on her way back to the bridge. I walked with her a bit down the hall, wanting to ask her a few questions.

"Lieutenant, you're the xenolinguistic specialist of the ship, correct?"

"You are correct, Ensign. You are Mr. Scott's new recruit?"

"Yes, Ma'am, but I know a bit about xenolinguistics myself. If I'd been a little more talented in Language, and a little less talented in Engineering, perhaps I'd have been under your jurisdiction."

"How many languages do you know?"

"I've mostly specialized in earth languages. I'm proficient in English, American Sign Language, Latin, Italian, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese. I do know Klingon and the very basics of Vulcan, though."

"Well, Ensign, be glad my job is not your primary dream. That isn't even close to enough knowledge to get you a position as a xenolinguist. It is, however, a fairly impressive feat for someone who's already spending most of her day tuning up tractor beams. When do you have the time?"

"Mostly I use ear buds while I'm working. That way I can soak it all in and break up the monotony of the job."

I blushed when saying that, remembering a time in an auto repair shop I interned at back home, where I was listening to an Italian tape while working under a vintage Camaro, lost track of time, and got locked in the shop for the night.

I related the memory to the Lieutenant, who seemed to find it amusing, and, realizing I was running kind of late, excused myself to go meet the Commander. As we said goodbye, she told me to call her Nyota, which I agreed to on the condition that she call me Rose, since I don't like the sound of the word Ensign.

I was late for my chess match, but the Commander didn't seem to mind after I told him I had been introducing myself to Nyota. I asked if he was good friends with her, and he explained to me that they were romantically involved. It made me wonder what exactly they were doing in his quarters before I had arrived.

I felt guilty for thinking that. After all, I had been spending time alone with the Commander in his quarters for the past two days, and we weren't doing anything scandalous at all. Granted, we hardly knew each other, he was already in a relationship, and I was a Roman Catholic with very strict beliefs.

Thinking about Catholicism made me finger the chain of the cross necklace I wore under my uniform as I realized I had left my king wide open for attack again. The Commander cleared his throat as he beat me again.

"Checkmate."

"What did I do wrong this time?"

"The same thing you had done last time. You rely too much on your bishops, and you block yourself off with the way you position your pawns." He paused for a moment, "Is there another board game you'd like to try? Perhaps one you're better at? I think we need to start off with something simpler."

"I used to play Chinese checkers with my grandmother. At least, I can say I know the rules to that one. I'd be surprised if there's a board on the ship, though."

"I am not familiar with that game, but we could look around and see if anyone has a board."

"Sounds good to me."

While we were wandering around the ship, he asked me about the chain around my neck, having noticed when I was toying with it before. I pulled the silver cross out from under my dress, and explained my belief, mentioning how it's hard being a Catholic on a starship where you can't attend mass for months on end during missions. He was oddly surprised at my faith, and agreed that it was uncommon among Federation Recruits.

I tucked the chain back in my dress, and after asking a few more crew members if they had a Chinese checkerboard, asked him how he came to be involved with Uhura.

"She was my student back while I was instructing atStarfleetAcademy. I knew she was very talented, and I was fond of her. When Vulcan was destroyed she had wanted to console me, so she kissed me. I, of course, took that to mean she had an interest in me, so we began to see each other."

I made a non committal noise back to him. I had no desire to bring up my revulsion at what he told me, but I remembered how devastated I was when I heard of the destruction of Vulcan, and I just couldn't imagine making out with someone during that period of mourning.

Luckily, we then actually located a man who owned a Chinese checkerboard. I remembered him to be the dude who blocked my view of the Captain the day I was recruited. His name is Grant, and he was actually very nice despite how tall he was. He guided the Commander and me to his quarters, and retrieved the board for us, saying we could keep it as long as we liked.

I taught the rules of the game to the Commander, when we had gotten back. As soon as he was clear on them, we played two games of singles and three games of doubles.

He beat me every single time.

**For anyone unfamiliar with Chinese checkers, the point is to move all ten of your marbles from the alcove of the board where they started, to the one on the opposite side, before your opponent gets their marbles from that alcove to yours. There are six alcoves around the edge of the board, and to turn a singles game into a doubles game, you merely repeat what I said, only with twenty marbles going from two alcoves to two other alcoves. For a better definition then that, look it up on Wikipedia.**

**Toni**


End file.
